


Hortus Concisus

by misqueue



Category: Glee
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon Compliant, Ficlet, Ficlet Collection, Flash Fiction, Gardens, Gen, Multi, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 05:44:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6740926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misqueue/pseuds/misqueue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A few little bits of prose I unearthed in my scraps folder: a collection of seven flash fiction pieces written in service of a mini exercise, which was, iirc, to make each of these gardens belong to a different story. Featuring Glee characters (subsets of Kurt, Blaine, Mercedes, Sam, Quinn, Tina, and Mike) in situations both canon and AU. The last one is a bit of Nights of Hedonia backstory.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hortus Concisus

**1.**

The peonies’ fat ruffled heads bobbed over the brick path, delicate pink, velvet red, and sunrise gold. Blaine took care not to bump them with his bare legs as he picked his way toward the shade of the gazebo. The chalky warmth of the bricks under the soles of his feet felt like the first day of summer break. He carried two frosty glasses of lemonade, and, tucked carefully under his arm, was a brown paper bag with three new comic books and two editions of Vogue: both American and French.

* * *

**2.**

The first sharp tips of the crocuses were just breaking through the crust of snow. His mother planted them when he was seven, and every year, as winter turned to spring, Kurt looked for them. They made him think of the swords of soldiers growing from dragons’ teeth.

* * *

**3.**

Moonlight made the blossoms on the pear trees luminous. A gust of unseasonably chilly air caught in the tender petals, and they broke free, spiraling down like snowflakes around the two masked boys. “Are you sure this is the right place?” Sam whispered. His shovel was slung over his shoulder like a rifle.

Blaine looked at the hand drawn map of the Dalton grounds that they’d found in the common room. “If X marks the spot, then yes.”

* * *

**4.**

A brightly painted garden gnome in a buttercup yellow cap grinned from under the broad shade of the hydrangea bush. “I found another one!” Mercedes called out. Mom said she’d hidden seven gnomes in the new garden. Mercedes had found four so far, her brother only two. The first had been among the carnations, the second beneath the concrete birdbath, and the third, tucked behind an old oak stump where the mint grew wild.

* * *

**5.**

The evening drizzle beaded on Kurt’s jacket sleeves as he sought healthy clusters of basil leaves to snip for dinner. The plants were going to seed, and most of the leaves were turning yellow and shriveling brown around the edges. They wouldn’t be able to eat on the patio tonight, but the cooling damp was a welcome respite from the heat of August. Still, the summer had passed too quickly. Soon Blaine would be back at school and Kurt would be donning a Lima Bean apron.

* * *

**6.**

The naked branches of the trees were arthritic claws reaching for the lurid orange clouds. Stubby brown grass invaded the once neatly raked pebble paths, and the rose bushes had become leggy and unkempt. Matted dead heads and bloated rosehips made them look diseased. An alien wail came from the north along with the acrid stench of smoke.

“Here they come,” said Mike. He raised a hand that summoned a spiral of amber flame.

Beside him Tina withdrew a silver tipped arrow from her quiver and notched it into her bow.

* * *

**7.**

Straight-edged beds ran the length of the greenhouse. It provided the shade the tender plants needed, a respite from the relentless blue sun that shone above and baked the ground with long days of savage heat.

Inside, banks of fans kept the plants cool, and the hydroponic systems provided much needed humidity. Zucchini and tomatoes, peppers and broad beans, blackberries and sweet white corn. It would be the colony’s first successful harvest on their new accidental home world. Something to celebrate at last—something to sustain their spirits as much as their bodies. Not another death to mourn, to compound the grief and hardship they’d all endured, but tangible, real hope. Life.

Quinn Fabray–formerly Commander and XO of the S.S. Aurelia, but now mayor of the fledgling human settlement on the lifeless planet Apathea–dusted her palms on the legs of her jumpsuit and stepped up to the makeshift podium. “Today, the equinox, marks a turning point for our colony. Not only from summer to autumn, but from perseverance to promise.”


End file.
